


A Stir of Bones

by MurderIsMyPasstime



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, And!Magic!, Child Abuse, Credence Barebone Needs a Hug, F/F, F/M, I only selected Other because one of them is a giant, Issues up the wazzu, Loosely follows a plot, M/M, Mary Lou Barebone is Her Own Warning, Modesty is the best, Other, Percival is a monster, Sorry if that bothers you, The girls are his cousins not his sisters, Thing - Freeform, This might have songs in it, Tina might be a badass, body image issues, or are they, self hate, seriously, umm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-01
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-13 12:31:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10513821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MurderIsMyPasstime/pseuds/MurderIsMyPasstime
Summary: We walked with my handswallowed in yoursEverything about youhad tonguesbut I am teeth,my darling boyteeth and more starlightthan you could ever stomachMorgan Nikola - WrenA tale of a boy possessed of a Power and a monster that could save or destroy him.By placing his power inside a stone Credence Barebone accidentally creates the host for a creature that may or may not be the Midgard serpent.. I'm not saying it is but, similarities..





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not really sure how tags work but.. I will try.  
> This work is based off of a book that I really love called; A fistful of sky   
> though, not too much of it, some parts have been changed.. a lot, so its not just a mindless spewing of the same. Because sometimes, when people copy down Harry Potter word for word except changing he too she I kinda wanna lay on the ground and have someone squish my head. though sometimes I don't and its everything I was looking for.. so there, I'm crazy.  
> I'm not too good at this so I'll just ask that nobody make me cry by telling me how much I suck. Thanks.

There was a word in the Goldstein family that all children longed to hear. A word that when breathed in secret, sent shivers down the spines of all who heard, a promise. This word had the right to invoke passage into the churning sea of adulthood but also the cradling comfort of tradition.

Transition.

For as long as their blood had held there had been Transition. A line of power nearly unbroken for time immemorial. Transitions could happen any time typically between the ages of 9, which was considered very young, and 19, this was both a blessing and a curse. For as the fever took and magic burned throughout, it had been known to burn the spirit away completely, leaving the body to wither and die. This rarely happened but had led to a practice of preparing oneself ultimately for the ending of a life, always hoping also for a beginning.

This is the story of one such life. This is the story of Credence Barebones.

 

Credence lay hunkered down in the tall grass. Breath held tight in his chest as he wriggled with barely contained excitement. The sun was shining through the trees above him in the old apple orchard that bordered the top garden. he couldn't stop the high pitched giggle as he saw his cousin Porpentina round the steps at a run, her dark hair flying as she looked over her shoulder, lips fixed with a grin. He watched her as she scrambled up one of the trees quickly climbing to the top most branches.

He had to slap a hand over his mouth to force the giggles down when he saw a halo of golden hair and the blur of a figure making its way towards them. Pressing his nose into the dirt he peeked an eye towards the sky and breathed deeply trying to clear his head of everything but the clear blue and the gentle dusting of clouds.

through the corner of his eye he could see Tina glaring at him from her tree branch. He stuck his tongue out, grinning at her furious expression and then quickly resumed looking skyward. His mind a reflection of what he saw there.

He could hear the voice of his other cousin singing but he payed it no mind. He was a cloud caught up in the sky. Footsteps came to a stop not far from his head and he heard a voice breathless with laughter. "Found you, Tini." Followed by a sharp cry from Tina as she fell from the apple tree, fingers turned to jelly. "No fair, you cheated!"

"But I didn't," Queenie giggled. "Its not cheating, I'm supposed to be practicing my Reading. Its not my fault that your thoughts are always so loud Tina."

"It's still no fair," Tina groused wiggling her fingers and watching them dance a rather wild jig before flopping over. "Creedy was right there, practically at your feet!" She gestured towards him, her fingers frantically wriggling.

"Don't be sore, Tini, Credence is the best at this game. While you're loud and at the front of your mind, Creedy isn't, he's a bird in the sky."

Queenie knelt down, her white and sunflower dress whipping in the breeze around her as she ran a steady hand over Tina's fingers setting them right.

 

Transition. It was a word that left Credence filled with excitement and dreaming of the one day when it would be his.

What kind of Power would he have? What would he do in his life? How many animals could he be before bedtime? All good questions, but he knew it was years off, probably, before he would get them answered.

Instead he was content to spend his days walking the short distance to his cousins house, letting himself in through the fence that boarded their property, and running away into the tall grass until it was time for lessons.

Every day there was a lesson from great Uncle Tamsin. He had come over on the same boat as their great grandparents but he really did not look his age. While Grandpapa Sven had been gnarled and hunched over from tough work and age by the time Credence was born, Uncle Tamsin was only a little weather beaten with a head of hair so dark brown it was almost black. He was the family historian and had taken it upon himself to teach the children for as long as could be remembered.

Recently Queenie had taken to assisting him since she had gone through Transition as it was always thought to be helpful if they could see one of their own performing magic. Perhaps it was just that Uncle Tamsin wanted a day off every now and then, either way these lessons were always greatly awaited and talked of when they were long over.

"Today," Queenie said quietly, probably hoping to invoke a sense of seriousness into the room. "We are going to be tapping into a tether that I have imbued with Power to perform a rather simple spell; today we'll be Casting what is called; Through Aphrodite's Eye, its supposed to grant you vision of your true love. Well," She said seeing the stubborn set of Tina's jaw. "It's described as a flicker of a persons face, maybe where they live or a significant place you will have in common but, it's not one hundred percent. Or really... even ten percent, it's not very accurate but it may be enjoyable."

"Humph!" Tina hunched over, her face set in a grimace. "It's only going to be fun if my true love is a tentacle monster from space!"

Credence couldn't see what the big deal was but he rolled his eyes and harrumphed along with Tina, not wishing to disagree.

"Now, write out the traits that you admire in a person- it doesn't have to be a boy Tini! And then, with the pin I put out in front of you, prick your finger, it's silver, can anyone tell me why?"

"Blood poison." Credence piped up.

"Very good, It's silver because with enough Power saturating your blood at the time of Casting you could be severely burned or poisoned. Ten points to Ravenclaw." With a wink she returned to the lesson. "Right, prick your finger and squeeze three drops onto the trait that you find most pleasing though it will take all of them into account. Three drops because three is, of course a Powerful number. Then say the words written down on that sheet of paper."

Credence did as she said trying hard to think of all the things that he might like in a person. It was such a strange thing to think of, did he even really like anyone like that. Had he ever? he wasn't sure, most people besides his family and maybe even them sometimes, often made him feel uncomfortable. It didn't even matter what they were doing, it could be something as simple as smiling and sometimes it would just rub him wrong and make his hackles rise and every word he spoke was like choking and he would just want to go home to hide in his blankets in the dark. This was often a source of frustration for his Ma. But he wouldn't think of her right now.

He sat with his tongue poking between his lips, thinking. He looked over at Tina who was busily erasing whatever she had just written down. He smiled a small smile and began humming to himself, one hand tapping a beat, the other writing in his messy scrawl.

Staring at the paper he hoped he had written enough for the spell to use. He quickly poked his finger waiting till he felt a sting of pain before pulling the pin out and squeezing three drops of blood, which splattered like crimson flowers onto the page, swallowing up his words. He held his breath for a second and the he spoke the words;

I Call to you across the distance

Because time cannot divide us

I Summon you with this vision

Only because I wish it

To know of you

Before I know you

By the Power of the Blood

By the Power of my Words

So let it be

 

Queenie's magic, which he realized must have been Tethered in the pencils, lit up in a golden fog that covered his eyes.

In flashes he saw the outline of a man and a sharp smile that glinted like a knife blade, he saw the deep golden eyes of a hulking twisting shadow, its form a mass of scales, he saw and felt himself dragged down into the dark of the sea, body surrounded by a crushing pressure, and the embrace of the crashing waves.

There came the snapping of jaws and the sound of flesh being rendered and he felt a deep hungering in his bones that burned all the way through him. Too many scenes passed before his eyes and he felt himself starting to shake his body suddenly not his own as if he had been forced out as he began to shudder and jerk. The last thing he felt was a wall of darkness pressing down on his mind and a presence of hunger turning towards him. Confused, but interested.

He woke sometime later laid out on the beat up couch that normally graced the corner of the room. He sneezed out the smell of must looking up into the concerned face of his eldest cousin. "Wh-what happened?" He whispered, his throat feeling as if he had swallowed his tea too hot.

"Oh Creedy!" Queenie fell to her knees in front of the couch gathering him up. "I'm so, so sorry, I don't know what happened, you just started shuddering all over the place all herky jerky and I couldn't stop you. Uncle says you had a seizure. Are- are you alright? What happened, did you say the words wrong?"

She looked so wretchedly guilty that he quickly shook his head. "No, I said what was on the paper, I even made sure to put emphasis on the words of power."

There was a scuffle and he turned recognizing his Uncle leaned against the lessons table. "Where did you go? I could see the glow of Elsewhere but I could not call you out of it."

Credence's body was starting to shake with a cold that had enveloped him when he'd woke. "I-I don't know.. I saw something, awful,  I even think I might have seen the yard out back but, most of it I don't know or understand."

His Uncle did not seem satisfied but after a moment he nodded sighing. "I suppose you all should go down to the house, I'll call your Mother from here and let her know you need be picked up."

He nodded, bone weary as he allowed Queenie to lead him out of the room and down the tower steps.

Out in the yard Tina was crouched on the lawn pulling up clumps of grass and worrying it in her hands. At the clicking of the door she shot to her feet, a worried look marring her normally stubborn face. That quickly disappeared when she saw Credence looking in one piece. Her eyes shot briefly to Queenie's face studying it before she nodded and then crossed over to Credence winding her arm around his shoulders and leading him towards the house.

"Well, that was dramatic. What did you see?" She tussled his hair as she spoke, the wobble in her voice belying her harsh words. She had been worried about him.

Credence held her tightly, for a moment not minding the closeness. "Teeth." He said simply.

Tina stiffened minutely. "Oh, well, It's probably good that you messed it up."

If she held him a bit tighter he decided not to mention it and he felt all the better knowing that for all her gruff words and indifference his cousin really did care for him.

He tried his best to forget it, that one incident that got away from him but often as not he would wake from fitful dreams too the coiling heaviness of that presence pressing him down into his mattress until he would black out again from the force of it weighing on him. His dreams were often slow to come but when they did they would always drop into a seemingly bottomless abyss where he felt only a deep hungering loneliness.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> People bookmarked this story! Yay, I don't know what that means but I'm excited!!!  
> Also, Harry Potter references are just that, references. There will be no magical school this time around.   
> Also I took out Chastity because even though with her it perfectly matches the amount of characters in the book this is based off I felt like I could not work with her.. Even though I really love the stories that include all of the Barebone children I unfortunately cannot.

Transition came for Tina with a force like howling winds that swept her fever up so high that the whole family had been afraid. She had come in one day from the back garden all covered in sweat shaking like a leaf.

Queenie was gone away on some kind of date and Aunt Celeste was stuck at work so that left Credence and Uncle Mikkel, tasked with keeping the fever at bay. Credence sat by her side removing and replacing cold clothes wishing sorely for something real to do. Something that would really help her as he watched her sweat through the sheets, never still as her arms thrashed about to wave off invisible foes. 

When he was feeling really helpless, when Tina's body had stilled and there was only the sounds of her crying as she seemingly was losing the battle with the forces inside her, Credence prayed.

He wasn't entirely sure what to but he asked anyway that the fever burn away and leave only Power behind. Tina would except nothing less.

On the third day of watching over his cousin, when her skin felt like ice, he crawled under the covers and held her close.

Whispering.

"Don't die, don't die, please don't leave me."

He must have drifted because when he woke Tina was sat up on the end of the bed with a bowl of Reeses cereal in chocolate milk watching cartoons. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he pushed to the edge of the bed glancing at her questioningly. Taking another bite Tina chewed then swallowed, lips twisting into a smirk. "Wanna see something?"

Credence was dumbstruck by how healthy she looked compared to yesterday when he thought she might be dying but, instead of saying this he nodded, his head bobbing ridiculously.

With a wiggling of her fingers her spoon shuddered all down it's handle and then leaped from the bowl quickly flipping it onto its rim and proceeding to dance something like a waltz through the puddling chocolate milk. If bowls could give an expression of joy Credence was quite certain this one would be squealing with happiness.

Childhood left them in a dizzying blur of events beginning on that one last quiet day. Tina soon pulled away from him in the weeks that followed, as she explored her gift.

~

"Cast!" His mother screamed flinging bolts of Power at him as he twisted quickly to avoid them. Treading water just too deep for him to touch.

His head went under and he inhaled popping up a second later spluttering.

"But Ma, I cant!!!"

With another flick of her wrist she sent a wave crashing over him with the force of a sledgehammer. He coughed hard enough for his stomach to clench causing him to heave, spitting up in the pool.

"Disgusting." His mother sneered. Twirling her fingers she cleared it up and then stood, expression empty as she stared at him. Probably hoping his head would go under and never come back up. Nodding too herself she leaned down and said firmly; "Your legs do not work, Use your hands." That said she straightened and walked away. The gate to the pool clicking behind her.

For a second he didn't understand until he tried to kick out to keep himself afloat when he realized the He. Could. Not. Move. His. _Legs_.

He could feel them there but, try as he might they wouldn't move. He sank slowly his arms thrashing in an attempt to keep him above the water. It was no use. He thought distantly as all the air rushed out in a flurry of bubbles. Also, this pool was much deeper than he had thought previously.

His vision started to darken at the edges as his body came to an almost gentle rest at the bottom. His lungs burning with the need for air and he knew that even if by some miracle his legs started working he would not make it back to surface, not when with every blink stars burst behind his eyelids.

The last thing that registered with his admittedly very giddy, oxygen starved brain was a glinting of scales and a pair of deep golden eyes.

He woke shivering in a puddle on the pool patio.

His mother did not believe that he could have almost drown, she said that he must have floated to the steps and hauled himself out. Credence was embarrassed to admit that he hadn't even thought of back floating. He'd just gone right into panicking.

For disobeying he was confined to his room for the rest of the day which he did not mind at all, His room was warm and safe with an abundance of books that he could entertain himself with as Ma thought an excess of television did no one any good.

Grabbing his comforter he dragged it over to his window and layed himself out in the strip of sunlight there, tracing his fingers over the cover of one of his favorites he cracked it open and quickly became lost.

After a few hours he was pulled from his book by the sound of the front door closing. Ma was going out.

His mother often left him alone and while others might see this as endangerment he chose to feel only grateful for the time away from her quick barbs and unrelenting unhappiness with him. When a stillness had descended on the house he knew she would not be back for awhile. The air always had a certain charge when his mother was home, as if the house itself might be holding it's breath.

Putting his book back in place he tiptoed down to the hall closet and pulled his shoes on. Quickly walking the distance to the orchard house.

Asking Tina for help felt horribly like admitting defeat, it tasted like trying to swallow past a lump of dirt, like suffocation, but he quickly swallowed down what bits of pride he had in the face of her tilted eyebrow and question; "What do you need Protection from?"

So he quickly spun her a tale of schoolyard bullies, though it was well known not to mess with any of the Goldstein children for fear of some swift and mysterious retribution. Tina's brow furrowed further but she nodded anyway. "Right."

Charging a stone from the top garden was an easy thing, he just had to remember to keep it with him and remember to have Tina recharge it.

A small part of him really wanted to tell Tina why he really needed something powerful enough it could quite possibly kill a person normally inclined to bully him but, the other larger part, probably the one influenced by his mother's own protection spells, simply kept repeating in a shrill voice very like his mother not to speak, do not say it, protect protect protect the family!!! Even it seems, from other family. He knew it should worry him but instead he just smiled his thanks agreeing that he owed Tina a favor and stole his way home before Ma and her vulture-like hovering could even know he was gone.

~

Time passed, as it always does like the blinks of eyes dazzled by the sun and Credence tried his best not to be disheartened.

Modesty Transitioned very early with a gift so over powered that time spent at his cousin's house fastly became the most dangerous for Credence and anyone else incapable of defending themselves from her seemingly random and unintentionally violent outbursts.

Credence spent a lot of that year cornering Tina to charge his Protection stone. It was extremely uncomfortable, he found, to have to hide in a thicket from your baby cousin who's magic had the uncanny ability to horribly backfire.

"Tini, I need you to do something for me." He said fingers worrying at a hole in the knee of his jeans.

Hands cupped around the stone she arched an eyebrow, her face a question. "Aren't I already doing something for you, Credence?"

Ducking his chin towards his chest he could feel his cheeks flaming. "I know, and thank you, it's really been a lifesaver, really!" He leaned towards her, hand not quite making contact with her arm. "I just... Do you remember last year when Uncle showed us Image in the Air? Could you um, I need you to do a Predictor Mystery for me. Please." He added hoping his face looked appropriately pathetic.

Handing him back the stone she nodded. "Sure, I can't see anything bad about that. Which one?"

"Can you tell me when I Transition? Please, I don't like being on the other side of the wall from you." He could feel desperation creeping into his voice and tried to force it steady.

Tina's face was all kindness and maybe a little bit of pity. "Are you sure Credence? Uncle said to be careful of questions. They can lead to answers that hurt."

Credence thought of the years of waiting. Three hadn't been so bad, he could easily Transition before his next birthday. But then he thought how Modesty was only eleven and had just been considered practically a baby, and he was so tired of being left behind.

"Yes." He said and pulled out a wooden hoop, looped and tied all over with wild flowers, handing it over. "I want to know."

Tina took the hoop and said the words that would make the spell work. A look of concentration on her face.

When Uncle Tamsin had demonstrated Image in the Air Credence had seen a vision of his mother as a young girl. He had noticed even then she had a sour look of displeasure for the world. This time he saw nothing, just the breeze stirring the flowers on the hoop. Maybe only Tina could see it?

He looked at Tina. Waiting.

"No." She whispered shaking her head.

"No what?"

Her expression forlorn. "No Transition."

Credence reeled back feeling as if Tina had sucker punch him in the gut. "What?"

Tina set the hoop down looking away, her face pinched with sadness. "I could be wrong. I've never done this before. It could not be one of my gifts."

"But," His face was crumbling with the force of his emotions. "What did you see?"

Tina shook her head.

"What did you see?" He asked again. Throating closing.

"I saw you," Her breath shuddered. "And you were older," Her voice cracked. "But there was nothing. No Transition. No Power. You. Just you."

Some people never went through Transition. The family had always married outsiders and sometimes that outsider blood made it so some of the children didn't have powers. This had been considered but Credence had never imagined it could happen to one of _them_. Tina continued talking but Credence could not hear her. Sound narrowed down to a ringing in his ears and he could feel it like a brick on his chest as all the air rushed out of his lungs as he struggled between outright weeping and attempting to drag in a few ragged breaths.

Tina's hands fluttered all over like birds as she tried to help him. unsure what to do.

Since Transitioning the others had quickly become these distant and wondrous creatures that he could no longer connect with or feel as comfortable around. Discovering new things. Things that he would never know now.

They had all changed. And he was never going to change.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, so this chapter didn't want to be written, it actually was the biggest bitch to write because not only did my phone delete it several times but my computer froze twice while I was attempting to post it. Also, everyone in my house has been sick non stop for the past month. First I was sick with some flu bug then the little dude with an infection in his lungs then the bigger midget with a cough then everyone else traded round the cough and he's back at it but this time with an ear ache. So, lovely.  
> I realize that this is a long time to wait for so little but thank you to anyone who has read and is interested in more.   
> Also, I'm afraid while I was sick with the flu I stopped writing this and wrote at least 4 other beginnings to other Credence/Percival stories.. yay?

Life changed like the whispings of sand slowly covering everything he knew to be true and fading it away, leaving him in a daze. He would be sixteen soon, his thoughts whispered. Sixteen and nothing to show that he truly belonged. Whatever delicate balance he and his Ma had worked out was quickly made null when he woke on a Saturday a week after school had let out to a sunbeam so piercing white it made the dust motes in his room glow.

Since his Ma had decided he no longer needed lessons and was just being a bother he spent most of his days walking the path that led under the highway too the beach or sitting in a comfy chair at his friend Jacob's house sipping at some flowery named tea with Jacob's Gran Wini, and reading his way through the bookshelves that lined her sunroom. He had met Jacob the previous year right as winter was creeping into the air.

He had started the ritual of walking the streets closest to his cousin's house hoping to stumble across one of them though, he conceded it was more likely that they would spot him first. He did this in hopes that Ma would not be able to blame him for a seemingly randomly running into them. He couldn't help but miss them, being together was so much a part of their lives. His earliest memories were of them.

But his mothers recent behavior suggested that it wouldn't really matter what his excuse was. She would corner him now, at least once a day, pacing the length of his room as she screamed at him. Everything was his fault, from her taking his father's name all the way down to him being born; "I should have known that day you would bring me nothing but grief!"

No matter what she started with it all boiled down to how he had not Transitioned, how she was sure it was his fault in some way- she couldn't prove it, but she knew. He thought always in these moments of what would happen if he told her the truth. Probably murder, he assumed. Nothing could ever be more embarrassing to his mother then knowing that she had produced a No One.

But he couldn't and in the end she was right and he was a coward. It hadn't seemed like much when it first started getting dark, he would just take out Tina's stone and press it close to keep warm. but he had forgotten that the stone needed charging and so would have headed home if it weren't for the Searching spell he felt close by that he was sure meant his mother was looking for him.

It was always bad news when she sent out Search for him. That could mean anything from him not being allowed dinner that night or that he had done or hadn't done something and would be expected to hand over his belt when he came through the door.

Walking in the cold, his breaths like puffs of cloud, he had spotted a house glowing in the twilight. Sugary smells and visions of icing'd pastries seemed to waft from the very wood of the house. His mouth watered as he snuck up onto the porch stomach reminding him that he hadn't been allowed to eat that day.

He was so cold and it was so warm he found himself settling down onto the couch tucked up under the covered porch, blankets that had been thrown over the back almost tucking him in themselves. He was woken by the concerned voice of a man his hands flying up to ward off any touch as he blinked himself awake. His eyes focused on the face of an elderly woman, she looked him up and down, clearly worried while Credence took in her kind eyes and frail looking frame. Her hair was snow white and may have been styled but had grown a mind of its own and was desperately attempting to curl up in whisps like clouds.

Coming to  a decision the old woman beckoned him into the house despite the younger man's clear dislike of this idea. "But, Gran-!" She would have none of it. "Now Jacob, this boy needs our help, don't you sweetheart? You look cold and hungry, come, come inside."

Credence may have felt uncertain but he could also feel the Search coming closer and steeled himself before going inside. Whatever they could do to him was nothing compared to what his mother would do. He found himself being pulled from room to room which were all cluttered up with books, some of which were plainly for cooking others he saw with some embarrassment were romance novels. He resolved to look only ahead after seeing a rather steamy cover with a man clutching at a woman's front apparently ripping her bodice off.

Sitting down at a well worn table tucked in the corner of the kitchen he was introduced to Jacob and Winifred Kowalski who proceeded to tell in between shoving food at him about their lives and the bakery they owned together.

-

Sitting up from his bed Credence busied himself with the mornings chores and then made for the kitchen, thoughts of butter on toast and a book in the windowsill making a pleasant home inside his head. He wasn't aware of anything wrong until  he was already down the hall, his shoes in hand. He felt a Compulsion again when he thought longingly of breakfast.

Suddenly, his feet were not his own and his arms would not respond as he left the house stopping to lock it behind him and then breaking into a full out run leaving his street behind. Laps, he ran laps around his neighborhood and only stopped when his legs were cramping too much to move.

He finally crawled back to his house after noon his legs wobbling like jelly, his thoughts resolutely not on food. He had found throughout the last few hours that if he so much as thought of food or drink he would be compelled to run again. He didn't even have the strength to use his key to open the door and passed out on the lawn instead.

His eyes blinked open to Ma rolling him over with her foot a look of distaste on her face.

"What," He licked his parched lips. "What did you do?"

She frowned. "This is your first day and I understand if it was a hard one so I will let that slide but, you will never speak to me like that again. Never. You are too lazy, always have been, always in a book reading nonsense or stuffing something into your face. I won't have all that any longer. I've placed a little something on you hopefully it will help you to see that you can be better. This," She gestured at his form that was currently in the fetal position. "This isn't the only you you can be. If you just focused, you would Transition, I'm sure of it."

He lay there blinking, unsure if she even knew how absurd she sounded. You can't torture someone into Transition, that's just not the way it worked.

The next day he was up with the sun and had just enough time to gulp down water before the spell took effect and he ran out the door.

-

Credence's legs pumped relentlessly, carrying him down the familiar streets. He had run three laps around Jacob's neighborhood breathing in the sweet scents of baking that wafted from his house at all hours. On his fourth lap Jacob finally noticed him and had come out onto his lawn and was watching with amusement as Credence sprinted towards him. Probably expecting him to stop. His face quickly changed from cheerful amusement to worry as Credence sped past him his quiet sobs carrying back on the wind.

He glanced to his left hearing labored breaths coming up behind him, the lumbering form of the other man slowly catching him up. "Can't- can't you stop?" He wheezed. 

Credence gulped down a whimper as he shook his head furiously. "N-no, no, m-my-my Ma." His words hitched as he quickly dissolved into tears legs still pumping. His feet compelling him to run.

Jacob gasped, stopping as his hands scrambled for purchase on one of Credence's skinny limbs. "What about your Ma? Credence, Credence stop?!"

But he could not, he ran faster his vision blurring and red pounding its way into the corners of his eyes. He stumbled hands making a half aborted attempt to catch him before he fell, hitting the pavement with a smack. The last thing he heard was Jacob's startled cry before everything went blessedly dark.

He woke to the blurry faces of two very concerned EMT's. They must have been speaking but it was all he could do to remember to breath. There was a ringing in his ears followed by a pop as his hearing slowly resumed just in time to hear the older of the pair fire off another question while he was checking him over. "Hey kid, kid? You hearing me?" At Credence's nod he continued. "Ok good. Now, your friend here says that you collapsed and that you had been running for quite some time. How long were you out running today? How much water have you had? Have you eaten anything in the last few hours?"

The questions went on and on but Credence couldn't answer any of them. He tried, he chewed his tongue raw and bloody working against the protections Ma must have woven into her spell. He knew what he was trying to say but when he opened his mouth to say it a wall of Protect our secrets/Do not speak of family matters to outsiders/Take it/Take it/Take it to your grave/ would descend and cause anything he might have said to garble into nonsense.

Sensing his inability to speak and seeing blood speckling his lips the man quickly turned him onto his side, probably so he would not drown in his own blood.

"It was... He said something about his mother before he passed out." The voice of Jacob's Gran spoke up, confirming whatever else the EMT's had asked.

Credence really couldn't be bothered to pay attention as he was quickly fading back into unconsciousness. He only hoped that whatever they ended up doing with him they didn't call his Ma. 

He woke later to the lemon scent of clean and the sounds of a hospital. He listened to the raised voices of his aunt and uncle. They appeared to be speaking to a police officer. He felt worry take hold deep in his gut at the sight of the uniformed man. This was not supposed to happen, they were never to discuss family problems with outsiders. He was halfway risen from his bed his dry mouth working trying to get them to stop, stop before they said something that could not be taken back. His body willed him to do it even through the pain and he knew as his mouth started to fill with blood again that it was his mothers Compulsion.

As if sensing his stress his Aunt turned to him, her expression going from severe to worried in an instant. Walking to his side she placed a cool hand to his forehead and he could feel a light slip from her fingers and through his skin and slide away to find and untangle his mothers spell. "There, sweet boy, it's all over now. You're safe." His eyes slid shut once more as the Compulsion left him and he slept.

His eyes opened a few more times and he saw the comings and goings of more police officers and various others.

"Don't worry," A voice said suddenly from his left. "Mama and Papa have already made arrangements and we'll be taking you home soon." His cousin Tina was sat too his left. She shifted in her seat pulling her leg up to tuck under. She looked very uneasy. "I'm so sorry Creedy, we didn't know. Your friends, the Kowalski's? They um, they called us when the Paramedics couldn't understand you. You were raving there for a bit, and now um, now I guess you are going to come live with us. Mama was so mad, she's so angry at your Ma and not just her, Papa and all of the other adults too. Why didn't you, why didn't you ever tell us?" She reached for him then and even though he didn't want to, he couldn't stop himself from pressing back into the hospital bed. she smiled sadly and lay her hand on his shoulder patting it gently.

And so Credence was removed from his mother's care and placed at the orchard house.


End file.
